William Oakley likes to tell a story to all of his new students about the important role machinists played in world development.

"Without the machinist, we would be standing out beneath a tree," said Oakley, an instructor at McFatter Vocational Technical Center. "Because, if you're inside a building, everything inside had to get there by means of a truck, and the machinist had a direct role in making the parts for that truck."

Most anything of metal has been produced in machine shops. And, over the years, the production of those products has improved. First manufactured manually, now the process is computerized to make production more accurate.

The computerized machinery will increase production and decrease the potential for human error, he said.

The time required to make parts, from the small metal clip on a marker to car alternators, will now be significantly reduced, Oakley said.

The production of tools and parts begins as a drawing in the engineering or drafting department. That drawing is then given to the machine shop.

"The old method would take eight to 10 hours to make a part," Oakley said. "With the regular machine (the CNC), it takes one hour to program, another half hour to set up the machine and then another three minutes to run the piece. By learning CNC, you cut the time down."

Whereas, before, 1,000 parts might have required the skilled hands of 10 people, CNC enables that same number of people to produce more items.

Or, CNC would allow businesses to cut staff and maintain its current level of production.

But, the market for products is keeping the number of employees in machine shops stable, Oakley said.

"I know of very few companies that have decreased the number of employees," Oakley said. "CNC creates a lot of supplementary jobs, more of a non-skilled job.

"The truck driver has to deliver more material, because you're running CNC, producing more parts. And, someone has to knock the sharp edges off of material or run the parts through inspection. The more parts, the more that have to be stamped and more parts to be inspected."